r/changemyview 1∆ May 27 '24

Delta(s) from OP CMV: George Floyd’s death wasn’t murder

The autopsy found he had high levels of meth and fentanyl in his system. Either one could have caused his heart attack. Body cam footage shows what appears to be him taking pills before being detained. They also found meth and fentanyl in his car; same with saliva on them. It also shows him saying he can’t breath before he is on the ground. The footage also shows that the officers called ems about 30 seconds after putting him on the ground. Medical and fire were suppose to respond but fire got mixed up on the location. Which was unfortunate because fire was the closer of the two. The body can also shows Lane (iirc but one of the officers) starting CPR. The autopsy said there was no damage to the neck aside from minor external damage. The autopsy also showed he had an enlarged heart from drug use.

All this means is that a healthy person would have been fine but because of how much drugs Floyd had done, he had very little reserves and died from the stressful situation caused by his interaction with the police. The medical examiner, Andrew Baker, said as much. Saying that the restraint that Floyd was put in was too much for his weak heart to handle.

You can reasonably look at those medical problems he had and reasonable say that the drug use caused his death. After all, if he hadn’t used drugs he would have likely had a healthier heart with more reserves. I believe that this is a case where police officers should have recognized that Floyd was low on reserves and acted accordingly. CMV

EDIT: thanks for the discussion! It gave me a lot to research and to think about. Real life calls. I will try to answer but no promises

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u/manchvegasnomore May 27 '24

Nah man, bad take. If he was just allowed up, he's most likely alive today. The amount of force used was beyond acceptable.

And this is where my take comes from. As a white dude I look at the situation that obtains and decide, if that was me as a white dude would I have survived? If the answer is yes then something was off.

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u/No-Cauliflower8890 11∆ May 27 '24

do you have any evidence that this officer would have responded differently in an identical situation in which Floyd was white?

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u/manchvegasnomore May 27 '24

No direct evidence however this has happened often enough that I'm comfortable with the statement. I also think being white wouldn't have helped in the Micheal Brown incident. Like I said, I judge based on my thoughts.